One of the many pleasures of the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party has been its generous presentation of “new” “old” music — the recordings and repertoire we know about but may not have by heart. One delicious example is the music made by Graeme Bell — often in collaboration with Humphrey Lyttelton. It pulls off the neat trick of sounding original and familiar at once — far from the usual “originals” that are thinly disguised versions of chord changes and motifs we all know by heart.

The very articulate Michael McQuaid, who knew Graeme, was the ideal person to lead this set, and the music was consistently rewarding.